Extracellular vesicles: novel messenger of unicellular microalgae communications

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanoparticles with membrane structures secreted by cells, demonstrated transfer of proteins, lipids, small RNAs, lncRNAs, and DNA and thus mediated mammalian cell-to-cell communication, with potential applications in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. However, these studies are mainly based on the microenvironment fluids between cells in mammalian cells and organisms. Microalgae are single-celled organisms living in natural and changing aquatic environments. Whether microalgae are able to secrete EVs and adapt to the changing environment via EV-mediated communication between cells is still unclear. We demonstrated that EVs are widely present in microalgae, with surprisingly rich contents of miRNAs and proteins. The differential expression of miRNAs and proteins correlated with different cell growth stages and abiotic stress. These findings suggest that EVs may represent an important component of information exchange between microalgae cells, playing an important part in adapting to changing aquatic environments